Blame It on the Shame (Blame It on the Shame: Lou-Lou and Ricardo's Story #1) by Ashley Jade Read Free Book Online

to you. I'll only be using this when I see fit. You'll still be completely functional.”
    I began to doze off. “Where are you going?”
    “Down to the fight club. Evidently my son made it through his last fight after all. But unfortunately he has left town and I have another proposition for him.”
    He laughed and the sound made me sick. “You see, just like you, he'll never be able to get rid of me either.”

3 years later...

Chapter 1 (Ricardo)
     
    He trapped me again. I thought I was free of him, I should have known he had one more trick up his sleeve.
    I thought I lucked out when he didn't bother showing up during my last fight.
    I hopped on a plane and got the fuck out of New York, but he eventually ended up tracking me down in Houston.
    I was there for almost a full year and I was enjoying my freedom.
    But my freedom came with a catch.
    Because being in the fight club had hardened me in a way I never expected it to. It brought my darkness to the surface.
    It made me more like DeLuca than I ever wanted to be.
    For 10 years straight, I watched while strong men failed and dropped like flies.
    Death was like a poisonous fog that loomed all around me...but still, I fought.
    Sometimes I used what happened to Graham to get through the fight.
    Sometimes I used what happened to that poor little girl.
    Sometimes I used watching my mother die.
    But every time I used my hatred for DeLuca to push through when I felt like I wouldn't make it.
    At the end of my 10 years, I was the only one left standing.
    Everyone else had died. DeLuca made sure of it.
    A big part of me wondered if that had been his intention all along, to ensure no one completed their deal.
    No one except for me. In the back of my mind, I wondered if he did that on purpose, but I didn't want to believe it.
    I earned my fucking freedom. The bastard could kiss my ass as far as I was concerned.
    A deal was a fucking deal.
    No matter how much someplace deep inside me missed that club. Missed pushing myself further and harder than I ever thought was possible.
    Missed feeling the sense of power and control in the cage. Missed letting the darkness roam free and burn through me.
    Missed being a DeLuca.
    Fucking hell.
    I'd never forget the conversation with DeLuca after he tracked me down in Houston.

    I was working in a small shop that I purchased with some of the money that I saved from fighting.
    I glanced down at a pair of metal tipped shoes and my anger bubbled through me. “I see you bought that mustang after all,” he said.
    I glared at him from under the hood. “Yup.”
    Take that, fucker.
    “I suppose I can admire that.”
    I snorted. “I don't need or want your admiration, DeLuca. Now get the fuck out of my shop before I put a few bullets in your chest.”
    “Well, I'll be damned. You are like me after all.”
    I threw the wrench on the ground. “You really want to have this conversation with me again?”
    He looked around the shop. “You know, you're almost 30 now, son. And this is all you have amounted to. A fucking mechanic.”
    “I could have amounted to more had my asshole father not saw fit to make me drop out of school. Not that there's anything wrong with being a mechanic. Unlike what you do, it's an honest and noble profession.”
    “But it's not where your heart is at, son.”
    “Fuck my heart. I don't need it. Just like I don't need you. Now, leave before I make you.”
    “I have a proposition for you.”
    “Not interested.”
    He didn't seem to care because he said, “I'm having a problem at the club.”
    I hated how my ears perked up at the mention of the club.
    He smiled, because he knew it. “Business is going down...I can't seem to keep any of my fighters for more than a few months at a time. They're all weak. People don't want to place bids anymore because they're not sure if they'll be back the next week.”
    I glared at him. “Well, maybe if you didn't keep setting the fighters up to die in the cage...you wouldn't have that